Sennheiser delivers great sound - both in and out of the box

The last two weekends of October saw London’s Westfield shopping centres stage MUSIC CUBE, a unique showcase of new and established musical talent. As Westfield’s Preferred Audio Partner, Sennheiser UK played a key role in both events.

MUSIC CUBE is a giant soundproof glass box, in which a range of artists performed over the weekend of 24th - 26th October at the Westfield London shopping centre, and 31st October - 2nd November at Westfield Stratford City.

Kicking off at midday, performances by between three and six up-and-coming artists were followed by a set from a Kiss FM DJ and then two headline slots by more recognised performers.

Each session was witnessed by an audience of up to 300, all using Sennheiser’s Urbanite headphones to enjoy the music.

Westfield promoted the events as ‘a completely new way to experience live music’, as Sennheiser UK’s Nick Pemberton explains.

“When you put the Urbanites on, you felt as though you were transported into the box with the band, which made for a very exciting experience. It was weird when you took the headphones off and were transported back to reality!” he says.

Nick and the Sennheiser UK team were a key part of the events. They created an L/R mix for the 300 pairs of Urbanites, with the headphone mix slightly delayed to align with the vibrations from ‘butt kicker’ subs, which were installed into the decking that guests walked over to enhance the physical feeling of the music.

“Transmitting the mix to 300 people was straightforward, due to the our usual forward planning and the use of evolution series wireless IEM receivers and a 2000 series transmitter,” says Nick.

“Having scanned the environments with Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) and working with Arquiva to establish which frequencies would provide bulletproof reliability, we programmed the system accordingly. The stereo system was split into two transmit frequencies for further reliability. In the event minimal RF power was required, due to the choice of frequency and best practice applied to cabling and antenna deployment.”

Both weekends were a complete success, the combination of Sennheiser’s state-of-the-art Urbanite headphones, technical management and the unique MUSIC CUBE format ensuring that both artists and audiences enjoyed sessions to remember.

“Sennheiser UK is committed to helping new talent and we were very pleased to offer up-and-coming artists the chance to play to audiences in such prestigious venues as the Westfield shopping centres,” says Nick.

“It was a great team effort and also an excellent way to demonstrate the many advantages of Urbanite headphones to the people who matter most - music lovers.”

About Gasoline Media

Owner and director, Sarah James, has worked in the AV/entertainment technology industry for over 25 years, initially in publishing at Disco International and Live! Magazines, moving into public relations in 1993 and setting up Gasoline Media in 2000.